* Taejon is considered to be a strategic inlet inot S.Korea and must be defended

* US & S.Korea suffered great losses here

* one of the worst cases of N.Koreans killing S.Koreans (civilians or military)

Defense of the Naktong River line

(July - Sept, 1950)

* seen as a natural defensive boundary, and was part of the Pusan Perimeter (but it did have many points in which the NKPA could attack the UN forces)

* the NKPA repeatedly attacked all of these weak points (approx. 4) along the Naktong River line

* the attack made no forward progress

Inchon landing

(Sept. 15, 1950)

* AKA "Operation Chromite"

* amphibious landings at Ichon behind enemy lines

* US Marines secured Inchon and broke N.Korean control of the Pusan region through a series of landings in enemy territory

* led to the eventual liberation of Seoul

Breakout from Pusan Perimeter

(Sept. 15,16, 1950)

* led by Lt. General Walton Walker

* this event took place one day after the invasion of Inchon

* US forces out numbered the N.Korean forces by 1/2 (14,000 to 7,000)

* US forces suffered a small number of casualties

Seoul liberated

(Sept 26, 1950)

* on Sept 29, 1950 the capital city was returned to President Rhee

* the NKPA virtually dissentigrated

* after Seoul was retaken by the S.Koreans and the UN forces, the UN was left with the question of what to do next

UN forces cross the 38th parallel

(October 1, 1950)

* the Secretary of Defense allowed MacArthur to advance beyond the 38th parallel, but McArthur demanded that the N.Koreans surrender before crossing the parallel. N.Korea did not respond, therefore leaving MacArthur to advance on N.Korea

Wake Island Conference

(October 15, 1950)

* AKA the WIC

* a meeting between President Truman and General MacArthur to discuss the "true" aim of the war in Korea

* MacArthur initially refused the meeting b/c he was in charge of a new offensive in N.Korea

* he eventually agreed to meet at Wake Island instead of Honolulu, which was the original selected site for the meeting

* Truman wanted to get the US forces out of Korea, and informed MacArthur that Russia was preparing to attack wester Europe

UN forces capture Pyongyang

(October 20, 1950)

* 8th Army seizes Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, after UN forces shift from the defense of S.Korea to the destruction of the N.Korean regime

Battle of Unsan

(Oct. 25 to Nov 1, 1950)

* 5 days after the capture of Pyongyang, S.Korean forces advanced toward the small town of Pusan

* upon their arrival, the S.Koreans were ambushed by the Chinese

* the survivors of the ambush told the UN forces that the Chinese were further north

* the US forces proceeded to check the area for the "supposed" Chinese, but were ambushed by a large number of Chinese forces, and annihilated at Unsan